


Forty Minutes In An Elevator

by LureSanta



Category: As the World Turns, One Life to Live
Genre: Crossover, Desperation, Lure Santa Exchange 2010, M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-14
Updated: 2010-12-14
Packaged: 2017-10-13 15:46:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/138959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LureSanta/pseuds/LureSanta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gift for Glitterfey, created by mooyoo - December 14</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forty Minutes In An Elevator

“I really hope there’s a bathroom somewhere up there.”

Kyle looked over to see his boyfriend staring hard at the floor numbers above the elevator. Oliver shoved his hands into his coat pockets and bounced ever so slightly on the balls of his feet as they waited for the elevator to reach them.

“What’s wrong with the one on this floor?” Kyle asked.

“Eh,” Oliver replied, as if that was any kind of answer. Kyle rolled his eyes and shifted his gaze downward to glance at the guppy. His daughter was happily preoccupied in her stroller with her new stuffed giraffe, one of its ears firmly set in her mouth, so Kyle looked back up at Oliver.

“Fish, you go to the gym six days a week. You get changed in front of plenty of other guys there. Hell, you use the locker room to change at work, right? How could you still have a phobia about peeing in front of other guys?”

“It’s not a phobia,” Oliver grumbled. He rolled back on his heels as the elevator dinged and the doors opened a moment later. “I’m just not crazy about whipping it out if there’s not at least one urinal in between me and the next guy. I really don’t think there’s anything crazy about that.”

“It’s a little crazy.”

They stepped into the elevator, pressed the button for the eighth floor.

“Do you _want_ other guys to see your - ” Oliver’s face went a light pink when two other men dashed through the closing doors to join them in the cramped car. Quick glances were exchanged all around; the younger one, a blond, smiled at Sierra. Oliver’s voice lowered to a whisper spoken next to Kyle’s ear. “What’re you, an exhibitionist?”

Kyle shifted around the elevator so he could look at his boyfriend. He raised his eyebrows, smiling with half his mouth, said, “Is that an invitation?”

Oliver rolled his eyes and snorted, “Right. Watch my head explode.”

Kyle laughed and the elevator dinged as it passed another floor and one of the men opposite him giggled. Kyle looked over to see the older man - a doctor, judging by his crisp lab coat - with an arm wrapped around the younger man’s back, disappearing behind him to somewhere that was making the younger man squirm and stifle another laugh. Their heads pressed close together and whispers passed back and forth between them.

And then came a huge clunk of a noise and the whole elevator car rattled to a stop, jarring everyone inside. They’d just passed the fifth floor, but now neither the fifth nor the sixth floor numbers above the elevator doors were lit up.

“What the hell was that?” the older man of the pair panicked, grabbing immediately onto the railing along the walls. His companion tried for a moment to pry his fingers from the rail and take his hand, but abandoned it to stroke instead over his shoulder when it became clear that he wouldn’t let go.

“Um. I think we’re stuck,” Oliver piped up.

“Oh really, Einstein?” the obviously terrified man shot back, and Kyle would have found his fright at being in an elevator pretty funny, were the guy’s fear not taken out on Kyle’s boyfriend. “How’d you suss that one out?”

Oliver frowned and tried to reply, “You were the one who asked - ”

“It’s okay, he‘s not really mad at you,” the blond cut in, still stroking the older man’s arm and ignoring the muttered “yes I am“ the man tried to interject. “He’s just not really a fan of elevators. Or rather, being stuck in them I guess.”

“Well who would be a fan of getting stuck in an elevator?” The angry response didn’t seem to faze the younger man. The older one started to sweat.

“I am.” Kyle raised his hand.

“What?”

“Just kidding.”

“Oh, for chrisssake, I‘m stuck in an elevator with - ”

“Relax, Reid,” the younger man said.

“I really don’t think you should bait this guy, Kyle,” Oliver said.

“Wait, Reid?” Kyle said, ignoring the elbow to the ribs he received from Fish. “As in, Reid Oliver?”

“ _Doctor_ Reid Oliver,” the man said through gritted teeth without looking at him. He stared instead up at the unmoving numbers above the elevator doors. “Yes. And you are?”

“Kyle Lewis.”

“ _Doctor_ Kyle Lewis,” Oliver added. Kyle glanced over to beam at him. Oliver smiled back.

He turned back to other pair. “And this is my boyfriend, Oliver Fish. So you’re the infamous Dr. Oliver, huh?”

“Indeed I am. Glad to know my reputation continues to precede me.” Dr. Oliver was just as handsome as the pictures in the pamphlet that came along with the invitation to the opening gala of the new wing at Oakdale Memorial Hospital had advertised, and just as bad tempered as the other gala attendees around them had whispered.

“Uh huh.” Kyle turned to the younger man. “So that must make you Mr. Snyder, the other figurehead of this shiny new neurological wing here, right?”

“Oh, it’s Luke, call me Luke,” he smiled easily, reaching out to shake first Kyle’s hand, then Oliver’s. “Mr. Snyder is my father.”

“I hate it when you say that,” Dr. Oliver grumbled, still sweating and growing pale now. “It‘s so cheesy.”

“That’s why I say it.” Luke smiled again, cheekily, and continued stroking Dr. Oliver’s arm.

“Why isn’t this thing _moving_?” Dr. Oliver grumbled, closing his eyes.

“Want me to try jumping?” Luke offered offhandedly.

“You do and you are _never_ seeing me naked again.”

“I think that would punish you more than it would punish me.”

“Just try me, buddy.”

Kyle and Oliver watched the back-and-forth as if they were at a tennis match.

“So,” Kyle broke in finally. “You two are, uh, together, huh?”

“Yes, yes, very observant there once again, Dr. Fish,” Dr. Oliver said through clenched teeth, leaning his head against the wall. “What did you say your position was? Chief of pointing out the absurdly  
obvious?”

“That’s Dr. Lewis, Kyle Lewis - ”

“Whatever.”

“ - And that was Oliver you grumbled at a few minutes ago for - ”

“Whatever!”

“Reid, look at me,” Luke said to his boyfriend gently. He shook Dr. Oliver’s arm and forced the other man to turn and face him. “Hey, look at me. Look at me.”

Dr. Oliver’s breathing started to come in quick pants, but he finally unclenched his closed eyes and looked up at Luke.

“Just take a deep breath,” Luke said, and stroked a hand down the side of the other man’s face. It took another moment, but Dr. Oliver obeyed with a deep, harsh intake of air. “You’re okay. We’re okay. Nothing’s going to happen to us in here.”

“Shouldn’t we call someone?” Dr. Oliver sounded just on the edge of desperate. He struggled for a moment to pull out of Luke’s grasp. “Isn’t there an emergency button or something we should hit?”

“Reid,” Luke said again calmly, petting the man’s arm until the struggles quit. “It’s okay. There’s an automatic alarm that trips in the security office if an elevator gets stuck between floors.”

“How do you know that?” Dr. Oliver closed his eyes again, leaned his forehead tiredly against Luke’s, but only for the brief touch of a moment.

“I know how everything works in this wing,” Luke replied easily. “Especially the elevators.”

Dr. Oliver smiled, eyes still closed, though Kyle wasn’t sure at what.

“They already know we’re here, I’m sure they’re working on it.” Luke’s voice was low, soothing, calm, and after a minute or so of silence, Dr. Oliver finally opened his eyes to look back at him.

“Claustrophobic?” Oliver asked carefully.

“No,” Dr. Oliver bit out.

“Yes,” Luke amended. “Just a little.”

“I am not - ”

“Where’re you guys from?” Luke interrupted, still stroking comforting hands over his boyfriend’s arms and cheeks and hair. One hand dropped down to hold Dr. Oliver’s, his thumb stroking over the other man’s fingers.

“Pennsylvania,” Oliver answered for them. “Llanview, it‘s just outside of Philly.”

“Oh, cool, that’s a nice area,” Luke answered as if he really was impressed by that. “So,” he said to Kyle. “You’re a doctor?”

“Yeah,” Kyle replied. “Just finished med school, actually. Oliver‘s a cop,” he added, proud.

Luke chuckled at that. “A cop and a doctor? You guys are like your own sitcom.”

“Yeah,” Oliver laughed. “Guess you could say that.”

“Just out of med school, huh?” Dr. Oliver finally piped up, leaning back against the wall but more focused than he had been moments ago. “You picked a specialty yet?”

“Don’t know yet. I kinda like working in the ER, thinking I might do my residency there.”

“The ER, right,” Dr. Oliver rolled his eyes. “A mediocre arena for mediocre doctors looking to be the next George Clooney.”

“Uh, mediocre?” Oliver bristled on Kyle’s behalf. “Seriously? You do know how much skill it takes to work under the kind of pressure you see in an emergency room, right?”

“Yes, of course I do, it takes just enough skill to keep the patient alive long enough to get them to one of us, the specialists. Named so for a reason.” There was a calm, even toned seriousness to his words, which was really irritating to listen to.

“Wow,” Kyle remarked, more peppy than he felt. Perhaps the claustrophobic nervousness was making the man even more irritable than usual, but the rumors about his bad attitude didn’t even live up to the truth. “You really are a charmer.”

“He tries,” Luke answered for Dr. Oliver, still rubbing up and down the man’s arm soothingly. “And I mean that literally, he actually tries hard to be this obnoxious.”

“You know me so well, honey,” Dr. Oliver said sarcastically to his boyfriend.

“Anyway,” Luke said pointedly, and turned back to Kyle and Oliver. “So you guys came all the way out here from Pennsylvania for this? We’re honored.”

Dr. Oliver snorted his disagreement, but said nothing, and Luke smacked him lightly on the arm.

Kyle shrugged. “My boss got the invite for your opening gala shindig thing here, didn’t have the time to come. Fish and I, we both had some vacation time, decided to take a road trip out here, check out the hospital, then hit up Chicago for a few days.”

“Road trip with a baby?” Luke asked, his smile wide-eyed now. “Yikes, that takes guts.”

“She rides a pretty mean shotgun, actually,” Kyle said, taking the opportunity to lean down, brush a hand over the guppy’s head. She smiled up at him and his stomach fluttered. “Doesn’t talk too much, picks good tunes for the road, won’t ever eat the last of the snacks.”

Luke nodded, laughed a little at that. “How old is she?”

“She’ll be two in February,” Oliver replied. Kyle could almost feel the pride radiating off of him. He grabbed Fish’s hand and laced their fingers together, squeezing lightly.

“Wow, two.” Luke crouched down to Sierra’s eye level and smiled at her, grinning when she babbled at him unintelligibly. He reached out to touch her head and she grabbed onto one of his fingers with her whole fist, making him smile again. “She’s really beautiful,” he said, looking up at Kyle and then at Oliver. “Did you, um… I mean, if you don’t mind my asking - did you adopt her?”

“No, no,” Kyle said, shaking his head. “No, I think it still generally takes an arm and a leg and a race around the world and going three rounds in the ring against the Incredible Hulk for a gay couple to adopt.”

Luke nodded his agreement and looked back down at the guppy, his face fallen just a little, before rising to stand next to Dr. Oliver again, who was starting to regain some of his color.

“No,” Oliver picked up the thread of conversation. “I got her the old fashioned way.”

“ _Really_ the old fashioned way,” Kyle laughed. “Drunken one night stand, barely knew her mom - ”

“Kyle!” Oliver chastised sharply, his face gone red.

Kyle ducked his head a bit. “Sorry. That, uh, that was probably a bit of an over share for just meeting you guys ten minutes ago.”

Dr. Oliver, shockingly, stifled a laugh at that.

“Do you share custody with her mother?” Luke asked.

“Oh, no, no,” Oliver stuttered out. It wasn’t an uncommon question, definitely one that they’d had to answer many times before, but it always tripped Oliver up a bit to talk about Stacy. Neither of them had any strong attachment to the woman beyond the child she’d shared with Oliver, but Kyle knew how much it still bothered Oliver to realize that their daughter would never know her mother.

“She, uh,” Oliver continued, and Kyle squeezed his hand again. “She passed away just after Sierra was born.”

“I’m sorry,” Luke said soberly.

Kyle waved him off, intoning _it’s okay_ , when the elevator gave another sudden thunking noise and rattled, but still didn’t move to the next floor. Dr. Oliver breathed in sharply, and Luke grabbed his hand again with both of his own.

“It’s okay,” he reassured. “It’s just the elevator trying to work itself out. It’s alright.”

“It’s an elevator,” Dr. Oliver groaned, closing his eyes again. “Not a sentient life form.”

Beside Kyle, Oliver started bouncing lightly again, barely noticeable, on the balls of his feet.

“We’ll be out soon,” Luke assured the other man.

“You don’t know that,” Dr. Oliver said, his voice raising to a high, anxious pitch. He shook his head furiously. “Why in the hell did I even let you talk me into…” he trailed off cryptically, but considering how touchy-feely the two of them had been as they’d entered the elevator together, it wasn’t too hard to figure out what they were headed upstairs to do.

“I didn’t exactly have to twist your arm.” Luke nudged Dr. Oliver with his shoulder and smiled. “You don’t even like these kinds of things anyway, it’s not like you’d really rather still be down there schmoozing than up in your office with me, let’s not pretend. You’re not fooling anyone.”

“I really want to be out of here.”

“I know,” Luke whispered to him gently.

“Oh my god,” Oliver suddenly broke out with a quiet moan. “I really need to get out of here.”

“You’re not claustrophobic too, are you?” Luke asked, his brow furrowed.

“No.” Oliver’s teeth bared, discomfort written all over his face, and he shifted from one foot to the other and back again. “But I really, really need to use the bathroom.”

“Ouch,” Luke shook his head sympathetically. “Have you had to go this whole time?”

“Um. Kinda. Yeah.”

“He has a thing about peeing in front of other people,” Kyle supplied. Oliver glared sideways at him.

“I do not have a - I just really prefer a more empty bathroom and the ones downstairs were really full. But, _man_ , I really need to go now.”

“So we probably shouldn’t mention how you should go check out all the beautiful _gushing streams_ around Oakdale,” drawled Dr. Oliver, a little more put together. It was as if the more obnoxious he was, the more calm he was. _What a head case_ , Kyle thought. “Or talk about how lovely the pitter patter of rainfall is on your roof, or - ”

“Hey, shut up, man,” an edge of pleading in Oliver’s tone.

“ - Rushing rivers, flowing towards - ”

“You keep that up, dude, I’m gonna pee on _you_ ,” Kyle nodded angrily at Dr. Oliver

“Do you have to go too?” Luke asked.

“No, but I will make it happen.”

“Reid, just stop it,” Luke sighed as he clasped their hands together and pulled them up to his chest. “You’re acting like a little kid.”

“I know,” Dr. Oliver replied immediately, which was surprising. “Sorry,” he tossed to Oliver after a moment before looking back at Luke. Luke smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

“Um,” Kyle said as he started digging through the bag hanging on the back of the guppy stroller. “We have a couple bottles in here if you want to - ”

“ _No_ ,” was Oliver’s firm answer to that. He rubbed his forehead, agitated and still shifting his weight back and forth from foot to foot. “Just - let’s just talk about something else. Anything else. Luke, what else do you do, besides helping to fund and design new hospital wings?”

“Oh, I um,” Luke, suddenly reserved, looked away from them and down at the floor. Dr. Oliver opened his eyes to gaze pensively at the other man. “I - my father has a shipping company that I’ve been running for him, and I head up a couple of foundations.” He shrugged and looked up at the numbers over the elevator doors, as if he’d just told them he was an unemployed pothead or something.

“And he’s a writer,” Dr. Oliver added, speaking to them calm and polite for the first time. He nudged his hand, still clasped with Luke’s, against the younger man’s chest.

“Trying to be,” Luke shook his head. “I’ve never been published or anything.”

“You write, you’re a writer,” Dr. Oliver said firmly, and waited for Luke to look up at him. “Stop putting yourself down.”

“I’m not - ”

“You are. Stop.”

Luke rolled his eyes, but Kyle could see a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Fine.” He turned to look back at Kyle and Oliver. “And I’m kind of a writer.”

“He’s working on something right now,” Reid turned to inform them, and Luke shoved him lightly, his smile growing a little wider.

Sierra made a noise, banged her giraffe against the side of her stroller, and Luke was watching her again curiously, their conversation apparently forgotten.

“Looks like she wants out of there,” Dr. Oliver commented, and Kyle nodded in agreement when she threw her giraffe to the floor with a victorious cry.

Fish leaned down to unbuckle her and picked her up, settled her against his hip. She leaned into him happily and smiled, tugging gently at the cuffs of his sleeves.

“She’s really well behaved,” Luke commented, still staring at the guppy. “I have three younger siblings; none of ‘um were ever that calm when they were babies; they were crazy.”

“Still are,” Dr. Oliver cut in, and Luke looked at him sharply, so he shrugged and added, “One of them is, at least.”

Luke still looked sour for a moment, before nodding slightly, acquiescing. “Yeah, okay, you may be right there.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty easy to please,” Oliver said as he bounced Sierra lightly along with his own dancing back and forth from foot to foot. “We’re trying to mentally prepare for the terrible twos to start, though.”

“I’m kind of expecting her to explode into a rage any day now,” Kyle added as he brushed the hair out of Sierra’s face and stuck his tongue out at her. She giggled at him.

“What’s it like?” Luke asked as he watched the three of them, something like a touch of wonder in his voice. “Being parents, I mean, is it, uh…”

“Scary,” Oliver replied. “Pretty much constantly.”

Luke laughed lightly at that, and then Kyle did too.

“Scary, huh?”

“Totally,” Kyle agreed.

“Everything you do, you know,” Oliver continues. “Every decision you make, it feels, like, epic. Like, is she going to grow up to be a serial killer because I fed her pancakes for breakfast yesterday.”

“Pancakes would _never_ turn someone to murder,” Dr. Oliver said rather passionately.

“Okay, well,” Oliver laughed, adjusting the guppy in his arms and glancing down at her. “Pancakes aside, I mean… sometimes, you know, it’s scary, thinking… thinking you could be doing something wrong at every turn and. Well. Sometimes I wonder, you know?”

“Wonder what?” Luke asked, and Kyle knew. They’d had this conversation a few times before, spoken quietly late a night when their nerves were frayed and Oliver’s rigidly homophobic upbringing reared its ugly head.

“If… what if it’s not enough, you know?” Oliver continued softly, looking down at Sierra. “What if we’re not enough? What if all those people who don’t want us to have kids are right and two men raising a child is…” He trailed off, shook his head. Sierra looked back up at Oliver and everyone was silent.

After a moment, Oliver shook his head and spoke again. “Scary. But then I think, you know, she’s got two parents who love her and an aunt and uncle and cousin and whole slew of other people who adore her and won’t ever… judge her for anything. She’s got pretty much everything she could want and she’s a really happy baby, and that’s more than a lot of kids get, so. It all starts to feel a little less scary.”

Luke smiled and Dr. Oliver looked… if not wholly appreciative of the conversation, at least a little less bored.

Kyle reached over to first squeeze Oliver’s shoulder, then rub Sierra’s head. “Yeah,” he said with the grin of a proud parent. “She’s a pretty lucky guppy.”

Oliver deflated some and looked up from their daughter to show Kyle a frown. “I told you to stop calling her that!”

“It’s cute!” Kyle defended with no real anger. “You’re Fish, she’s a little Fish - guppy. It’s cute,” he said again, and laughed when Oliver huffed and leaned down to kiss the top of Sierra’s head.

“You’re going to give her a complex,” Oliver grumbled lightly.

“Had you ever considered having kids before?” Luke asked, still watching them with a curious look to his eyes.

“What’s got you so interested in kids all of a sudden?” Dr. Oliver said to his boyfriend before Kyle or Oliver could reply.

“I love kids, I’m always interested in them,” Luke shrugged, not quite meeting the other man’s questioning gaze.

“No, no, it’s more than that.” Dr. Oliver shook his head and wagged a finger at Luke. “You thinking about having children or something?”

“I don’t know. Maybe, I - yeah, maybe, kind of.”

“Well is it yes, maybe, or kind of?” Dr. Oliver asked, folding his arms over his chest.

“Yikes,” Fish whispered under his breath, and Kyle silently agreed with the sentiment.

“Yes, okay, the thought - the idea - of having kids, starting a family, yes, it’s crossed my mind once or twice.” Luke raised his chin, looking straight at Dr. Oliver now, and straightened his stance up, as if preparing to defend himself. “Haven’t you ever thought about it?”

“No,” Dr. Oliver replied firmly. Luke raised his eyebrows and crossed his own arms across his chest, and Dr. Oliver relented. “Okay, well, I have _perhaps_ noticed your affinity for small children on occasion and taken note of it, but, that’s… I’m really not sure I… and do you really want to talk about this _now_ , in front of strangers?”

“Now’s as good a time as any,” Luke said with a wave of his hand. “It’s not like we’re getting out of here any time soon.”

Dr. Oliver’s eyes went wide, his hand almost instinctively finding the railing along the side of the elevator car once more. “What? Why wouldn’t we - ”

“Reid,” Luke said and reached out to stroke his arm, comforting. “I’m kidding. I’m sorry, I was just kidding, but c’mon, we’ve already been over your dislike of small spaces and,” he nodded towards Fish, “Oliver’s dislike of peeing in front of people,” and at that Oliver groaned and kicked Kyle lightly in the shin. “And Gay Parenting 101, including conception by heterosexual one night stand,” which garnered another light kick from Oliver. “I don’t really see the big deal at this point.”

“Luke.” Dr. Oliver sounded tired, but he continued on. “You’re twenty-four. You’re still - ”

“If you say ‘a kid’ I will stick my tongue out at you,” Luke said, faux-menacing, and Dr. Oliver actually smiled at him. Small, but there.

“ _Young_ ,” he continued, and Luke smirked, cocked his head back as he continued listening. “Most people your age are still getting over their college hangovers and backpacking through Europe or bumming around their hometowns borrowing money from their parents. They’re still figuring out their own futures and careers and what they want, not settling down and starting families.”

“Well first of all,” Luke poked a finger into Dr. Oliver’s chest. “No college hangover to get over, so there’s that. I’ve been to Europe, and who says we couldn’t go again with a kid? I’m probably always going to bum around my hometown, because I like it here, and I don’t need to borrow money from my parents. I don’t want any of that stuff. I know where I am, where my career is going. Who says you have to be a certain age to be settled?”

The elevator gave another lurch then, but still remained where it was, and Dr. Oliver closed his eyes and seemed to be trying to ignore it. Luke squeezed his elbow tightly and they continued speaking, Dr. Oliver through slightly clenched teeth.

“I wouldn’t want you to… do something you regret later on,” he said to Luke.

“Why would I regret having a family with you?”

Dr. Oliver’s jaw clenched and unclenched a few times. His shoulders seemed stiff, tense, and after a few moments he finally opened his eyes to look at Luke, seemingly blocking Kyle and Oliver from his vision.

“You’d really want that with me?”

“Can you honestly tell me you’ve never thought about a future with _me_?” Luke asked softly in reply.

“I’m not - ” Dr. Oliver started and then his words fumbled. He paused for a moment, searching, it seemed, for the right thing to say. “How can you be so sure that I’d - ”

“Reid,” Luke moved to stand close, right in front of Dr. Oliver so that they were virtually sharing the same space, breathing the same air. “Of course you’d be a good dad,” he said with conviction, taking Dr. Oliver by his shoulders.

“How do you know that? I’m not any good with kids, I don’t even really like them all that much - ”

“What about Ethan and Natalie? They love you.”

Dr. Oliver snorted airily, scoffed, “They’d love Stalin if he brought cupcakes every time he visited them.”

Luke laughed and nodded, said, “Okay, well, while that’s probably true, it doesn’t mean they don’t like _you_ , or that you’re not great with them. What about Jacob? He likes you more than he likes Chris, even.”

“Well that’s an easy feat to accomplish.”

“Look,” Luke continued with a small laugh. “I’m not saying like, the minute we get out of this elevator we should go down to the adoption agency or something. Just. It’s something I think about sometimes. And I just want to know that we’re on the same page, as far as… all of this future stuff goes.”

“You’ve never brought any of this up before,” Dr. Oliver said as he finally seemed to relax a little, arms coming down to fall at his sides.

“Oh my god,” Fish said quietly into Kyle’s ear. “I really think I’m going to pee on myself in a minute.”

“Shh,” Kyle whispered back, eyes still on the other pair, enamored. Oliver nudged him with his shoulder in response.

“Well it‘s not exactly an easy subject to bring up, you know?” Luke continued on, paying no attention to Kyle and Oliver. “Kids, marriage, family, it’s… big. But, you’re who I want all that with. All the big future stuff. And - and I need to know that you want that too.” He ducked his head away suddenly, cheeks going pink, and Dr. Oliver jostled him lightly with a soft shove to his shoulder.

“Luke, seriously?” he said, and tipped the other man’s chin up to face him. “You really see me sticking around this sideshow of a town for anyone else?”

“Well, there’s the hospital and heading up a new wing, and…”

“Please,” Dr. Oliver scoffed. “This hospital’s got nothing on you.”

Luke sucked in a breath, looking pleased, and grinned brightly at his boyfriend. “So can we just at least… put the idea on the table, then? I’m not saying right this second, or within the next year even, just - kids, I mean, or a kid, just one - ”

“Right,” Dr. Oliver snorted. “You get one kid and you’re going to want five.”

Luke furrowed his brow mockingly and pretended to ponder that. “That’s _possible_ …”

Dr. Oliver sighed, “What if I’m _not_? Good at it.”

“Stop putting yourself down,” Luke said, and Dr. Oliver shut up, though it was with a glare.

“What if we can’t adopt? You were just talking about how hard it is.”

“Hard doesn’t mean impossible,” Luke reasoned, reaching up to stroke his thumb over Dr. Oliver’s chin. “And there’s other ways to go about it anyway.”

“If that’s your way of asking me to get drunk and sleep with a woman, you can forget it.”

“Damn,” Luke laughed. “Almost had you on that one.”

Kyle continued watching the pair, completely fascinated. Dr. Oliver was an ass, or at least projected himself as such, but Luke seemed to have his number, and the obvious affection between them was palpable even as they disagreed. He took Fish’s free hand, rubbed his thumb over his boyfriend’s knuckles, and thought back to similar times with Oliver, when they were still finding their footing, working out what they were to each other, what they were going to be together. Though it seemed like Luke and Dr. Oliver pretty were well sure of their place in each other’s lives.

Beside him, Oliver’s foot began tapping again, and grew louder with each beat, until suddenly the other pair noticed it too and looked over at Oliver and then Kyle, startled.

“Um. Kinda forgot you guys were there,” Luke said, and Dr. Oliver nodded his agreement.

“Yeah, I figured,” Kyle replied, and grinned. Oliver’s foot continued tapping for a moment, and then crossed one leg over the other. Sierra grabbed at his nose, figuring all the bouncing up and down was a game.

“How long’ve you two been together?” Kyle asked.

“One year, three months,” Luke and Dr. Oliver replied simultaneously, then turned to look surprised at each other.

Kyle laughed, and Oliver made a sound in between a laugh and a groan.

“Oliver,” Kyle said as he took the guppy from him. “Just go in one of the empty bottles, seriously, it’s no big deal. We won‘t look.”

“ _No_ ,” Oliver said again, firmly, and lowered himself down into a crouch, breathing rapidly in an out through his nose. “I’d like to hold on to _some_ of my dignity here.”

“Yeah, ‘cause this is very dignified,” Kyle said as he watched his boyfriend curl in on himself and bury his head in his hands.

“As would peeing in your pants,” Dr. Oliver added, and Kyle nodded, agreeing.

“Just stop talking about it!” Oliver cried sharply, desperately.

Luke stifled a laugh.

“Your dad is silly,” Kyle sighed to Sierra, who made a gurgling noise in response.

Finally, blissfully, just as suddenly as it had come to a stop, the elevator gave a lurch and shuddered it’s way back down to the fifth floor. Dr. Oliver gasped audibly, his forehead immediately breaking out into a sweat once again as Luke wrapped a reassuring arm around his midsection.

“Oh thank _god_ ,” Oliver said, much more loudly than Kyle was sure he intended, and leapt from his crouching position to stand in front of the door, bouncing again from foot to foot for the last few seconds it took for the elevator to finally reach its destination.

It took another several moments for the doors to open, during which Dr. Oliver breathed harshly and Fish tapped anxiously, probably unconsciously, against the doors, and the murmurs of repairmen could be heard from outside the car.

But finally they were open, and without a moment’s hesitation, Oliver was off down the hall in search of a bathroom. Dr. Oliver followed behind shortly, taking huge, deep breaths as he stepped out into the open hallway. Luke met Kyle’s eyes and they shared a small chuckle at their boyfriends’ expenses.

“Well,” Luke said as he and Kyle stepped off the elevator.

“Yeah,” Kyle replied. He tried for a moment to drag the guppy stroller one-handed, holding Sierra in his other arm, and Luke quickly came to his aid, pushing the stroller out into the hallway for him.

“It was really good meeting you guys, I guess,” Luke said, ending his sentence with a laugh. What could one say, really, to a strangers just shared close to an hour in an elevator with, really? He shook Kyle’s hand, and Kyle huffed a small laugh as well.

“Yeah, yeah, you too.”

“It might sound weird, but - it’s nice to talk to another gay couple, you know?” Luke said as he sought out Dr. Oliver’s hand without looking, the other man standing behind him against the wall. “Sometimes it feels like we’re the only ones in town - or at least the only ones over the age of twenty in town. We never really hang out with any other gay couples.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling,” Kyle nodded. “Seems like we never really hang out with _anyone_ else anymore, since we had her.” He looked down at Sierra, who smiled and blew a spit bubble. He laughed and looked back at Luke. “Not that that’s any reason not to do it, though. Have kids. ‘Cause it’s pretty great.”

Luke nodded. “We’ll keep that in mind. Right Reid?” he added over his shoulder.

“Right, yes, kids are great, we‘re gonna get right on that,” Dr. Oliver mumbled. “Can we get out of here? I seem to remember we had a date with my office not too long ago and I would really like to get this night back on track and forget that we were stuck for forty minutes in a tiny, cramped, box hanging from a wire in the middle of an empty shaft…” He trailed off and then shuddered, shook his head.

“Which is his way of saying, nice to meet you too,” Luke said to Kyle.

“Yes,” Dr. Oliver agreed. “Very nice meeting you, always nice meeting another gay, good luck with your residency and your child and your cop. Luke?”

“Take one of his cards,” Luke said, still speaking to Kyle, and reached into the pocket of Dr. Oliver’s coat to produce a business card. “I don’t have any, but if you guys are ever in town again, give us a call. We should hang out or something.”

“Yeah, we’ll do that,” Kyle nodded, pocket the card, unsure if they’d ever be in the area again. _But who knows_? he thought.

Luke and Dr. Oliver turned to head for the stairway with a last wave goodbye from Luke, and Kyle could hear Dr. Oliver saying, “Just so we’re clear - whether it includes kids or not, you really believe I don’t think about my future being with you?”

Luke’s “I know. I just need the reassurance sometimes,” was barely audible, but the arm that Dr. Oliver wrapped tightly around the younger man was loud and clear.

Oliver returned to Kyle’s side with a heavy, huge sigh, and Kyle tore his eyes away from the other couple to laugh at him.

“Better?” he asked, and Oliver nodded furiously.

“Much.”

They clasped hands and sidestepped the repairmen scattering the hallway, pushed Sierra’s stroller and walked to another elevator, pressed the button, and waited for it to arrive.

 **-end-**


End file.
